Find your ancestors in Wills & Administrations at Lincoln Vol. III 1540-1659, Introduction to Original Volume

Wills & Administrations at Lincoln Vol. III 1540-1659

British Record Society volume 52

Published 1921

Introduction to Original Volume

The present volume contains alphabetical Calendars of the Administrations granted in the Consistory Court of Lincoln from 1540 to 1659. The term 'Consistory Court' must be taken to include the Consistory Court of the Bishop of Lincoln, the Court of the Commissary of the Bishop within the Archdeaconry of Lincoln, and the Court of the Archdeacon of Lincoln within his Archdeaconry. A considerable number of Administration documents which properly belong to other courts are how incorporated in the records of the Consistory Court.

The documents included in the present Calendars are the administration bonds with their accompanying inventories, and the probate and administration act-books in so far as they relate to the business of granting administrations.

These documents have been, until very lately, unindexed and practically inaccessible to historical students. The Calendars therefore, which contain more than 40,000 references, make available a large body of new evidence. Much time has been spent in identifying the names of places. Occasionally the modern equivalent of the name has been enclosed within square brackets in the text, but generally the identification should be sought in the Index of Places. Most of the deceased persons lived in Lincolnshire: a few in the counties of Bedford, Buckingham, Hertford, Huntingdon, and Leicester, which were formerly included in the diocese of Lincoln. When no county is named, it is to be understood that the place is in Lincolnshire.

The documents referred to in the Calendars are now deposited in the Lincoln District Probate Registry of the Probate Division of the High Court of Justice. A few years ago, a large part of them were transferred to that Registry from the Lincoln Diocesan Registry; and the writer undertook the work of cleaning and repairing the documents, of arranging them in bundles according to years, and of calendaring them. The late Canon R.E.G. Cole, M.A, whose death is a grievous loss to the cause of Lincolnshire county history, made a draft of the first of the two Calendars, and Mr. J.T. Smith of the District Probate Registry gave very valuable help in checking the draft.

It may be useful to enumerate the calendars of wills and administrations at Lincoln which have now been printed, and those which remain to be printed prior to the year 1660:

Printed

  • 1. Wills and Administrations registered in the Lincoln Episcopal Registers {The Index Library, volume xxvm).
  • 2. Miscellaneous Wills formerly deposited in the Episcopal Registry in Bishop Alnwick's Tower at Lincoln, 1489-1588 {Ibid.). These wills have lately been deposited in the District Probate Registry.
  • 3. Wills proved in the Consistory Court of Lincoln (as defined above), 1506- 1600 (Ibid.).
  • 4. Wills proved in the Consistory Court of Lincoln (as defined above), 1601- 165 J ( The Index Library, volume xli).

Unprinted

  • 5. Wills and Administrations registered in the Act-Books of the Dean and Chapter of Lincoln, 1400-1540
  • 6. Wills and Administrations in the Court of the Dean and Chapter of Lincoln, which are now deposited in the District Probate Registry, 1534-1660.
  • 7. Wills and Administrations in the Commissary Court of the Bishop within the Archdeaconry of Stow, and the Court of the Archdeacon of Stow within his Archdeaconry, 1530-1660.
  • 8. Wills and Administrations in the several small Peculiar Courts, which are now deposited, in the District Probate Registry, 1530-1660.

Abstracts of some of these wills have been printed:

  • i. Early Lincoln Wills, edited by Alfred Gibbons (Lincoln, 1888), containing , abstracts of all the wills in no. 1 above.
  • ii. Lincoln Wills, volumes I and II, edited by C. W. Foster, M.A., F.S.A. (Horncastle, 1914 and 1918: Publications of the Lincoln Record Society, volumes 5 and 10), containing abstracts of all the wills prior to June, 1530, in nos. 2, 3, and 7 above.
  • iii. Lincolnshire Wills, first series 1500-1600, and second series 1600-1617, edited by A. R. Maddison, F.S.A. (Lincoln, 1888 and 1891), containing abstracts of selected wills from nos. 3, 6, and 7 above.

The thanks of the writer are due to the President of the Probate Division of the High Court of Justice for permission to print these Calendars, and also to the successive Registrars of the Lincoln District Probate Registry, and their staff, whose unfailing courtesy and help have greatly lightened his labours. C.W.F. Timberland, 23 April, 1921.

Explanation of the Calendars

The Roman numerals after A indicate volumes, and the Arabic numerals pages. The Arabic numerals after B, E, I and T, indicate the numbers of the documents in the bundles, which are arranged according to years.

In order to obtain the documents the following particulars should be given:

  • In the case of A — the letter A and the Roman numeral which follows it.
  • In the case of B, E, I and T — whichever of these letters is required, together with the numeral that follows it, and also the year given in the entry.
  • Thus, to obtain all the documents referred to in the following entry:
    • Abbottt Henry, Stapleford, 1596 : Avi, 41 ; B I, 3
    • ask for
    • "Avi" and "B I, 3, 1596."